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Statistics for Cerveny Middle School:
School District: Detroit City School District
County: Wayne
Low Grade: 06
High Grade: 08
Locale: Large Central City
Charter: No
Magnet: No
Title 1 School: Yes
Title 1 School Wide: Yes
Number of Students: 768
Number of Teachers: 38.30
Teacher to Student Percent: 20.10
Male: 372
Female: 396
Native American: 0
Asian: 0
Black: 764
Hispanic: 1
White: 3
Number of Students Receiving Free Lunch: 503
Number of Students Receiving Reduced Lunch: 27
Migrant Students: 0
http://mas.scripps.com/WXYZ/2004/05/25/wilson-school-retreat_e.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'
>
[url=http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/ys_investigations/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15949_2913120,00.html]http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/ys_investigatio...2913120,00.html[/url]
Cerveny R
etr
eat
By Steve Wilson
Web Produced by Jenny DiDomenico
May 25, 2004
Michigan public schools th
roughout the state are feeling the financial pinch, but while Detroit Public Schools face 3,200 layoffs - including 900 teachers - the party isn't over at some city schools, even though the students suffer academically.
The party we're talking about is a little end-of-the-school-year retreat for the staff at a Detroit school that is failing to educate city schoolchildren even to minimum standards. But that hasn't dampened the determination of some educators to party hearty, no matter how poorly their students may be doing.
Last Friday afternoon students at Detroit's Cerveny Middle School dodged rainfall as they headed home for the weekend. Few if any of them or their parents kn
ow that their teachers and staff are motoring off to meet up later for a special "time out" of their own.
It's an overnight sleepover party paid for with school dollars that were grante
d for the p
urpose of school improvement.
The 7 On Your Side Investigative Team watched as teachers and staff unloaded thei
r cars and headed inside to check in for an overnight retreat planned as a sort of pick-me-up, end-of-the-school-year event.
School money paid for them to stay over in the lap of luxury, each in their own private suite at a cost of nearly $100 per guest.
The event is just 25 minutes up the road at the Embassy Suites in Livonia. Organizers apparently figured it would be a hardship for anyone to have to drive back and forth to attend.
According to the agenda, what's mostly being improved is the social life for the school staff. First, there's a happy hour and ice breaker so good it's set to last for two whole hours. Next, a few brief words from a motiv
ational speaker. After that, a free dinner for everybody, followed by two hours of mix-and mingle, hustle lessons, and dancing. To top off the night, they enjoyed adult swimming, a good hot sauna, an
d a soak in the hot
tub.
The following day starts with a fine, free breakfast for all. Next comes an hour of games for participants a
nd then, for anyone who wanted to attend, breakout sessions where teachers taught each other some self defense and computer skills. This was followed by 45 minutes of advice on how to cope with all the stress, presumably that incurred when teaching, not trying to take in all the party activities.
All the fun was not just limited to educators. Janitors at Cervany also attended the school soiree, and yes, the head custodian was there to party, too. Action News spotted her catching up with the night custodian there who also didn't want to miss out on the fun. Another woman along for the ride was not even employed at the school anymore. She retired in the last year or
two, but was apparently invited for the free fun as a courtesy.
And when we say free, of course nothing's really free, not even the free-flowing bar the Cervany staff enjoyed, or what th
e organizers described the
sumptuous buffet. School improvement money paid the banquet check for more than five dozen people at about $32 a h
ead.
The original invitation was said to have come from certain members of the retreat committee, and was sent to every teacher. In a scrawling handwriting written on a behavior referral form it says:
"These individuals seem to be in need of 'time-out'away from school. In September, they were all bright-eyed and bushytailed, well-rested and enthusiastic about our mission. Lately, there are fewer smiles, sagging shoulders and much less energy."
The remedy for such staff misconduct is as follows:
"Report to the Embassy Suites Hotel for a FREE staff retreat featuring a suite for each staff member, a complimentary happy hour, a sumpt
uous buffet, stress management techniques, games, dancing, exercise, swimming, door prizes, gift bags, etc?"
Who could refuse?
And so they came: the janitors, the teacher
s and special education staff, eve
n the union's shop steward couldn't resist the invitation to shower himself with the kindness and largesse delivered by school principal Nathani
el Washington there on the retreat with his colleague and fellow administrator Charlene Harris.
All in all, we're told, it was the perfect chance to relax.
The cost, including free goodie bagsand what's a party without a goodie bag?--exceeded $8,000 in money that was granted to help improve the school. And in the less than two hours set aside for any kind of professional development or classes for the teachers to learn new skills? None of that was mandatoryand fewer than half the participants even bothered attending.
7 Action News went inside the event with our team and hidden cameras because we were positive our
viewers would want to see how school dollars are being spent in a district that 's running $80 million in the red and laying off 3,200 employees make ends meet.
And remember
, as we've reported before, Cerveny is a t
roubled school. Just last year:
- fewer than 3% of the students met minimum standards in social studies
- fewer than 5% in
math
- under 14% in science
- only about 15% in reading
By virtually any standard, it's a failing report card for the majority of students and the system that spent millions of our tax dollars, but failed them miserably.
Finally, many regular viewers may recall Cerveny as one of many schools where last year a 7 Action News investigation found students without books.
Late Tuesday afternoon came word that the little retreat cost even more than we suspected. DPS confirms the total cost exceeded $20,000 in tax dollars.
Stay tuned to 7 as our investigation continues. You'll want to see the looks on their face
s and what they had to say for themselves when our reporters walked in and spoiled the party. Some new details just coming out also seem to indicate that the money could be more than
wasted: Spending it this way may well violate the
law.
Statistics for Cerveny Middle School:
School District: Detroit City School District
County: Wayne
Low Grade: 06
High Grade: 08
Locale: Large Central City
Charter: No
Magnet: No
Title 1 School: Yes
Title 1 School Wide: Yes
Number of Students: 768
Number of Teachers: 38.30
Teacher to Student Percent: 20.10
Male: 372
Female: 396
Native American: 0
Asian: 0
Black: 764
Hispanic: 1
White: 3
Number of Students Receiving Free Lunch: 503
Number of Students Receiving Reduced Lunch: 27
Migrant Students: 0
http://mas.scripps.com/WXYZ/2004/05/25/wilson-school-retreat_e.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'
>
[url=http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/ys_investigations/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15949_2913120,00.html]http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/ys_investigatio...2913120,00.html[/url]
Cerveny R
etr
eat
By Steve Wilson
Web Produced by Jenny DiDomenico
May 25, 2004
Michigan public schools th
roughout the state are feeling the financial pinch, but while Detroit Public Schools face 3,200 layoffs - including 900 teachers - the party isn't over at some city schools, even though the students suffer academically.
The party we're talking about is a little end-of-the-school-year retreat for the staff at a Detroit school that is failing to educate city schoolchildren even to minimum standards. But that hasn't dampened the determination of some educators to party hearty, no matter how poorly their students may be doing.
Last Friday afternoon students at Detroit's Cerveny Middle School dodged rainfall as they headed home for the weekend. Few if any of them or their parents kn
ow that their teachers and staff are motoring off to meet up later for a special "time out" of their own.
It's an overnight sleepover party paid for with school dollars that were grante
d for the p
urpose of school improvement.
The 7 On Your Side Investigative Team watched as teachers and staff unloaded thei
r cars and headed inside to check in for an overnight retreat planned as a sort of pick-me-up, end-of-the-school-year event.
School money paid for them to stay over in the lap of luxury, each in their own private suite at a cost of nearly $100 per guest.
The event is just 25 minutes up the road at the Embassy Suites in Livonia. Organizers apparently figured it would be a hardship for anyone to have to drive back and forth to attend.
According to the agenda, what's mostly being improved is the social life for the school staff. First, there's a happy hour and ice breaker so good it's set to last for two whole hours. Next, a few brief words from a motiv
ational speaker. After that, a free dinner for everybody, followed by two hours of mix-and mingle, hustle lessons, and dancing. To top off the night, they enjoyed adult swimming, a good hot sauna, an
d a soak in the hot
tub.
The following day starts with a fine, free breakfast for all. Next comes an hour of games for participants a
nd then, for anyone who wanted to attend, breakout sessions where teachers taught each other some self defense and computer skills. This was followed by 45 minutes of advice on how to cope with all the stress, presumably that incurred when teaching, not trying to take in all the party activities.
All the fun was not just limited to educators. Janitors at Cervany also attended the school soiree, and yes, the head custodian was there to party, too. Action News spotted her catching up with the night custodian there who also didn't want to miss out on the fun. Another woman along for the ride was not even employed at the school anymore. She retired in the last year or
two, but was apparently invited for the free fun as a courtesy.
And when we say free, of course nothing's really free, not even the free-flowing bar the Cervany staff enjoyed, or what th
e organizers described the
sumptuous buffet. School improvement money paid the banquet check for more than five dozen people at about $32 a h
ead.
The original invitation was said to have come from certain members of the retreat committee, and was sent to every teacher. In a scrawling handwriting written on a behavior referral form it says:
"These individuals seem to be in need of 'time-out'away from school. In September, they were all bright-eyed and bushytailed, well-rested and enthusiastic about our mission. Lately, there are fewer smiles, sagging shoulders and much less energy."
The remedy for such staff misconduct is as follows:
"Report to the Embassy Suites Hotel for a FREE staff retreat featuring a suite for each staff member, a complimentary happy hour, a sumpt
uous buffet, stress management techniques, games, dancing, exercise, swimming, door prizes, gift bags, etc?"
Who could refuse?
And so they came: the janitors, the teacher
s and special education staff, eve
n the union's shop steward couldn't resist the invitation to shower himself with the kindness and largesse delivered by school principal Nathani
el Washington there on the retreat with his colleague and fellow administrator Charlene Harris.
All in all, we're told, it was the perfect chance to relax.
The cost, including free goodie bagsand what's a party without a goodie bag?--exceeded $8,000 in money that was granted to help improve the school. And in the less than two hours set aside for any kind of professional development or classes for the teachers to learn new skills? None of that was mandatoryand fewer than half the participants even bothered attending.
7 Action News went inside the event with our team and hidden cameras because we were positive our
viewers would want to see how school dollars are being spent in a district that 's running $80 million in the red and laying off 3,200 employees make ends meet.
And remember
, as we've reported before, Cerveny is a t
roubled school. Just last year:
- fewer than 3% of the students met minimum standards in social studies
- fewer than 5% in
math
- under 14% in science
- only about 15% in reading
By virtually any standard, it's a failing report card for the majority of students and the system that spent millions of our tax dollars, but failed them miserably.
Finally, many regular viewers may recall Cerveny as one of many schools where last year a 7 Action News investigation found students without books.
Late Tuesday afternoon came word that the little retreat cost even more than we suspected. DPS confirms the total cost exceeded $20,000 in tax dollars.
Stay tuned to 7 as our investigation continues. You'll want to see the looks on their face
s and what they had to say for themselves when our reporters walked in and spoiled the party. Some new details just coming out also seem to indicate that the money could be more than
wasted: Spending it this way may well violate the
law.